The breakthrough could lead to the generation of cheaper base-load electricity from renewable energy and help lower carbon emissions which cause global warming.

“When our computer model told us the efficiency that our design was going to achieve, we thought it was alarmingly high,” said Dr John Pye, from the ANU Research School of Engineering.“But when we built it and tested it, sure enough, the performance was amazing.”

Concentrating solar thermal systems use reflectors to concentrate sunlight and generate steam, which can drive conventional power station turbines. It can be combined with efficient heat storage systems and can supply power on demand at a significantly lower cost than solar energy from photovoltaic panels that has been stored in batteries.

The global concentrating solar thermal capacity has grown by a factor of 10 in the past decade, with some of the largest installations in Spain, United States, and South Africa.“Ultimately the work in this project is all about reducing the cost of concentrating solar thermal energy. Our aim is to get costs down to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity, so that this technology will be competitive,” he said.

“This new design could result in a 10 per cent reduction in the cost of solar thermal electricity.

At 500 square metres, the ANU solar concentrator is the largest of its kind in the world. It focuses the power of 2,100 suns onto the receiver, through which water is pumped and heated to 500 degrees CelsiusInformation courtesy of Gizmodo Australia